Festival Of The Seven Sisters

The day of the Maidens
This is an all-maidens festival. Unmarried girls remember the legend of the fairy and the cowherd and make offerings to the lovers. Romantic enough to be something like a Chinese valentine’s day (but one in which maidens pray for good looks to attract a good and worthy mate).

The Cowherd and the Weaving girl
The seven daughters of the Jade Emperor who wove the robes for the Gods in Heaven came to the earth for their annual holiday and bath. While they were bathing, a Cowherd stole one set of their clothes and hid away. After much splashing and fun in the water, the seven sisters stepped out to change. To their horror, the prettiest one of the lot discovered that her clothes were missing. She had no choice but to go begging the cowherd for her clothes.

The cowherd gave it back but not before he proposed to the girl who had no choice but agree to marry him. She did not regret for they lived happily together for three years. After three years, the Gods felt that she had had enough fun and should get back to work. They ordered the girl back to Heaven and get on with weaving their robes. The lovers were allowed just one short look of each other once a year.

Later, the Cowherd died. He became an immortal with the help of his magic cow and he hurried to join his beloved among the stars. But the Queen of Heaven feared that her wardrobe might be depleted again if the girl got distracted. So, she took out her magic hairpin and with one sweep of her arm, drew the Milky Way across the sky leaving the Cowherd on one side and the girl on the other.

There the lovers remain to this day, so near and yet so far. They are within sight of each other and yet not able to meet, except once a year on the double seven. On that day, all the magpies of the earth fly up to Heaven and make a bridge with their wings for the girl to cross over to visit her husband.

On the double seven, young unmarried girls remember this romantic yet sad story and they make their offerings to the lovers. They pray that they too find their soul mate and that when they do, they may not be separated from their lover as the cowherd and the weaver girl had to be separated.In the Land of Women full movie